The present invention relates generally to the design and configuration of mechanical devices, and more specifically to a compact and ergonomic rock drill utility chassis for more convenient, safe, and comfortable use of various sized rock drills.
Rock drills are often used by utility companies, transportation personnel, and private construction and maintenance companies to perform various tasks such as drilling holes for testing purposes in natural gas infrastructure, road, sidewalk, and tarmac maintenance and construction, and many other circumstances requiring access and structure holes in solid materials. The typical rock drill is operated by compressed air motive force, supplied by an associated high-capacity air compressor. Drills driven by electric and hydraulic motors are also available, for instance. A variety of drills are available, either being entirely hand-held, supported by a semi-portable chassis system, or mounted to mobile equipment. In certain applications, the rock drill is attached to a boom, for instance the boom of a back hoe or excavator, either directly or through a specially configured chassis.
In most situations, the use of a rock drill as a hand-held implement is very demanding physically and can be unsafe, due to the potential for injury. Manual guidance of the rock drill can be very strenuous and uncomfortable after even a short period of use. In addition, the precision with which a hole can be drilled is limited when using a manually guided device. When engaged in repair or survey work, accurate placement of drill holes may be difficult due to fatigue of the drill operator and/or due to unusual positions and angles the drill needs to be manually positioned in.
To make the use of rock drills more convenient, safe, and comfortable, firms have constructed various chasses or frames on which the rock drill, controls, and components of a pneumatic, electric, or hydraulic system are mounted. The chasses are meant to help guide and position the rock drills over the drilling target and to make transportation of the rock drills more convenient.
The current methods employed to carry out these objectives have numerous disadvantages. However, many of the current systems in use, when all rock drill components are fully assembled onto the chassis, are quite large and heavy, weighing upwards of 300 or more pounds. After transporting these chasses to a worksite, mechanical assistance is normally required to safely load and unload a chassis from the transporting vehicle. The use of these prior art systems thus requires a forklift, backhoe, or other similar heavy machinery to set up. In many situations, several worksites must be visited in one day, making the loading and transportation of the chasses inconvenient and time consuming. Also, more workers are required in cases in which heavy machinery is unavailable for loading and unloading.
Another objective of the current disclosure is to provide a safer method and system for using rock drills. Rock drills main rotating component configured to rotate when the appropriate power is supplied to them, turning the drill bit to prepare for drilling. The rock drills are attached to a feed mechanism that, when activated, will move the rock drill towards the drilling target and provide the necessary force to push the rotating drill bit into the material being drilled. Current systems can create dangerous situations during drilling when, for example, the drill bit becomes stuck or the operator becomes incapacitated, whether due to personal injury, unstable drilling surfaces, or machine malfunction.